Your life's work squandered
Even a penny spent on advertising is wasted if the copy doesn't differentiate.
The week ended with great sadness here in the UK and - to be candid with you - I almost skipped this issue as a result. But noting how many brands misjudged their reactions to the Queen’s passing (often calling into question their own authenticity), I concluded you might enjoy something to take your mind off it all.
If so, read on to learn why:
① Marketing shouldn’t leave people with more questions than answers.
② Good ads are carefully targeted and clearly differentiate your product.
③ Branches are such an endangered species, they’re having to huddle to survive.
④ Engineering stickiness should be the goal for every product marketer.
⑤ Crypto companies are being ostracised by the media like Big Tobacco.
⑥ Reporting the news is no longer enough, you have to share how you do it.
⑦ You can afford to take the high ground if you offer the best product.
What's new
If you’ve travelled on London’s Underground over the last few weeks, you might have noticed a new campaign for productivity tool Notion.
In short:
The campaign hinges on the slogan “For your life’s work”.
There are variations of the ad but the accompanying visuals are always similar: a photo of a representative user and some clippings of the interface.
The only other element on the ad is the company’s logo.
Why it matters
InMarketing should be a celebration of great marketing rather than a critique of the poor stuff. But every now and then, an example like this comes along that is an abject lesson on what not to do.
Let’s start with the positive though, shall we? I love the slogan for its clever juxtaposition of ‘personal life’ and ‘work’, hinting at one of Notion’s unique selling points: it is as useful in a work setting as it is at home. And I think it cleverly imbues the product’s user with a sense of nobility and aggrandisement. But that’s the only positive thing I have to say about this ad.
① I happen to know Notion. I’m an avid user (I built the InMarketing site using it), a fan even. It’s a truly great product. Which is why I ‘get’ the ad. But we have to assume that if they’re advertising on the Tube, I’m not their target audience. They’re trying to reach new potential users who haven’t heard of it before. And they’re arguably casting their net far too wide with an expensive campaign on public transport. With that in mind, the ad has many, many questions to answer:
Firstly, why would I need this product? It looks like it might be a task manager of some kind, perhaps a note taking app? (Dear reader, it’s both of those things; it’s also an agile database, user interface, and a content management system.)
My follow-up question - and perhaps the most important unanswered question here - is, how is Notion different to its competitors? What does it do better than them? (Dear reader, Notion is, far and away, the easiest, most flexible, yet most powerful productivity suite available; it has alternatives from the likes of Microsoft beat by a country mile.)
How do I use the product? It’s not at all clear from the visuals. Is it desktop software, SaaS, or a mobile app? (Dear reader, it’s all of these things and all content is seamlessly synced between them.)
Even if I was interested, how would I get it? Do I need to pay for it? Is it a one-off purchase or a subscription model? (Dear reader, it’s very reasonably priced: free for personal use!)
What should I do next? Is there a website I should visit? Perhaps a term I should search for online? What action am I supposed to take? (Dear reader, just Google “Notion” and the Google Ad campaign they’re currently running will do the rest.)
Some simple tweaks to the copy would have solved all of this.
For your life’s work
Notion: the world’s most flexible yet powerful productivity solution, ready whenever you are via desktop, browser or mobile app.
> Search “Notion” to get started today for free.
What to do about it
Take action
② If your marketing team is proposing spending even a penny on advertising, don’t sign off on it unless it:
Is targeted: Do you know who your users are and where you can reach them?
Conveys your purpose: Have you explained why your product exists? What problem is it solving?
Differentiates from your competitors: Does the copy position the product clearly in its category?
Offers a clear call to action: Do you know what you want the reader to do after seeing your ad and are you making it easy for them to do so?
Get help
Visit InMarketing, my resource library for leaders in finance or technology who want to innovate, interact and influence.
Join my InMarketing Twitter community, where you can ask questions or comments of me but also your fellow community members of senior marketing practitioners.
Share
Can I ask you a favour? If you found this useful or know someone who would, please share it. It would really help me to grow the community of regular IMTW readers.
Top stories
The other articles that are worthy of your time.
FINANCE
New banking hubs to launch across the UK
③ Branches are such an endangered species, they’re having to huddle to survive.
“The UK is set to open 13 new banking hubs designed to preserve access to cash across the country. The move, announced by the Cash Action Group and LINK, will bring the total number of hubs to 25.”
“The organisations said that the new hubs are likely to become an even more important resource amid the cost-of-living crisis, particularly in communities with limited cash access.
“Two banking hubs were piloted in 2021 in Essex and South Lanarkshire, which have been ‘extremely popular’, with usage more than doubling since they were first opened last year. They have had nearly 60,000 customer visits and transactions worth £16 million over the same time period.”
TECHNOLOGY
Why Bloomberg lives on and on and on
④ Engineering stickiness should be the goal for every product marketer.
There are five main reasons why Bloomberg defies gravity:
Knowing their client preferences: Most Bloomberg users are used to its user interface and don’t dislike it.
The cost of substitution: When these revenue generators are bringing in millions of dollars of revenue and trading huge amounts of risk capital, is it worth their bosses changing their daily workflow?
A superior brand and network effects: Having a terminal is a status symbol.
A disciplined pricing strategy: Bloomberg is at its heart a one-product, one-fee company.
A long-term vision around product expansion: As a private company, rivals have very limited granular market intelligence on Bloomberg’s operations. Competing against them is therefore hard.
MEDIA & MARKETING
Netflix bans crypto ads on upcoming subscription tier
⑤ Crypto companies are being ostracised by the media like Big Tobacco.
“Netflix has announced it won’t allow any crypto-related ads on its upcoming cheaper subscription plan that features paid ads. The renewed subscription plan is set to go live on 1 November 2022 in various countries across the globe, including the US, Canada, Germany, and France.”
“Netflix announced it will not support crypto-based ads due to regulatory scrutiny and their high risk.”
“Similar actions were taken in the past by Meta and by Google’s parent company, Alphabet, who banned any crypto-related advertisements on their platform for a year, before reversing the decision. Similar bans will be applied on any political or gambling-related ads, but not pharmaceuticals.”
WILD CARD
A message from CEO BBC News and Current Affairs
⑥ Reporting the news is no longer enough, you have to share how you do it.
“Today's news audiences are telling us they need more from us. They need greater transparency. They need to understand more about how we do our work, if they are to truly believe. They need us to pull back the curtain. To tell them not just what we know, but how we know it. And what we don't know.”
“The editorial standards that sit behind your journalism are a contract with the consumer that guarantees the highest quality journalism in the world.”
“We do need to make changes. We need to evolve, and we need to adapt, and that's why I'm so excited about being here now, and working with you all to build a new future, and to build the next steps.”
Off cuts
The stories that almost made this week’s newsletter.
FINANCE
␛ UBS abandons $1.4bn Wealthfront acquisition
🥫 Does your fund do what it says on the label?
🛒 FNZ snaps up European wealthtech provider
💳 Prepaid cards increasingly popular in France, study shows
🥶 Brrrrr. UBS employees will have to dress more warmly
TECHNOLOGY
⛓ CFOs and banks prepare for the blockchain future of finance
🌁 San Francisco: European Union opens office and Jones Day hosts conference
👮🏻♂️ Revolut under pressure after UK regulators find audit flaws
💶 Digital euro to focus on personal use, not Web3, EU officials say
🇨🇳 Hong Kong to lure fintech and ESG talent with new goodies
MEDIA & MARKETING
🐦 Which Twitter features are most useful for journalists?
🧑🏻💻 How content marketing can build loyalty
🍎 Apple plans to double its digital advertising business workforce
⛹🏻♂️ How to go from no marketing to a marketing MVP in 90 days
✓ MQL to SQL: The qualification process
The last word
⑦ Tim Cook at the Code 2022 conference this week explaining Apple’s thinking on creating compatibility so Android users can send multimedia messages to iPhone users:
“Buy your mom an iPhone.”
Don’t settle for marketing.
Strive for InMarketing: innovate, interact, influence.
Wishing you a productive week,
P.S. If you’re ever in the little Provençal town of Vaison-la-Romaine, I think you’d really enjoy lunch at Le Beffroi.
